HER NAME WAS RIO
by femmefan1946
Summary: The people of Earth That Was came to the Verse in Arks, giant generation ships filled with both entire populations and the animals and seeds they would need to prosper in their new worlds, all in cryogenic storage. But not all the Arks made it safely.
1. Chapter 1

** HER NAME WAS RIO**

**CE 2534**

'Captain, could you come to the bridge?' River called over the comm.

Mal put down his cards. Derry followed his father. Since the Silverhold experience, he had a hard time having Mal out of his sight.

River pointed to the screen. 'We can't eyeball yet, but there is something big out there that's giving a distress call. No reply when Serenity signals though.'

'How far out is it?'

'A good ten hours.'

'And it's showin already? Yer right, Tross, That is big.'

'Is it dangerous, Daddy?' asked Derry.

Mal frowned. His boy had called him Captain since he could talk. He found being addressed as 'Daddy' disconcerting.

'We won't know until we're closer. No response to our call makes me think there are no live people there though. River, keep an open mind about it. And keep sending a call.'

About six hours later, Mal returned to the bridge. 'Serenity can see it now. It's a city.' River reported.

'Uh, yeah. Well big enough for one. How big is it compared to the Dortmunder?'

River recited: 'Dortmunder. Iskellian Technology Solutions Tohoku-class cruiser, Essentially a mobile city in space, Over 40,000 personnel can be accommodated on board the ship, including a minimum crew of forty naval personnel, as well as information and development specialists, economists and financiers, administrators and support staff.'

'Umm. Yah. And how big is our city out there?'

'Physically about five times that size. No weapons visible. Different configuration.' reported the pilot. 'It's an Ark.'

Mal gazed on the generation ship , already huge at this distance, in wonder.

'Daddy? Like the ones from Earth-That -Was?'

'Looks like.'

'There's one of those at New Paris on Bernadette. The school is going to make a field trip for the Eights after exams.'

'Sounds like an expensive extra t'yer fees.'

'Uncle Simon said it would be a present if I got more'n 90 'cross the board on my exams, next year.'

'There's her name. It's in Roman letters only. Rio de Janiero.'

'Strange name. Is it a foreign language? Or named for somebody special?'

'Portuguese. The language died out in the Verse, but millions of people spoke it one Earth-That-Was, mostly in a country called Brazil. And Rio de Janiero was a city there. There was a song….'

'Derry, go look up Brazil and Rio de Janiero, mind the spellin. Find out if there were any Ark by that name and where it ended up.'

'Yessir.' Derry hurried off.

'Call Zoe and your brother, Tross. We need to talk about this without kids around.'

'I don't see any signs of breaching, but we're still pretty far out.' Said Zoe.

'So why the silence? Those ships were designed to keep going, with people being born and dying n them for centuries.'

'They could be suspicious of strangers. Or they may have forgotten there is more than their ship.'

'They could all be dead from an epidemic. They could have put themselves or their remnant population into cryosleep.' Simon thought from his medical perspective.

'If that's true, there would be good money in salvage.' Said Mal.

"A wandering minstrel I, a thing of rags and patches." sang River , who had recently developed a strong interest in the operettas and musicals of Earth-that-was.

'If anyone is alive, there'd be no salvage. The owners would still have possession.'

'The only way to know is to board.' said Zoe.

'We need to be certain that the ship is dead if we're goin after salvage. But if we find crew or passengers, they own the boat and we're on a rescue mission.'

'Sir. We may not be the first to find them.'

'Reavers?' said Jayne, anxiously.

'Possible. This was their territory. Or pirates more like.'

'Zoe's right, Mal,' added Simon.'And if pirates were here, or slavers, we have to be careful about reporting the find.'

'We'll be takin River, then, so's we know if there are livin people.'

'And their state of mind.'

'It's a city, captain. We're five.'

'Six.'

'David should stay with Kaylee and the kids. He can pilot and she keeps Serenity flying. If any of us are lost or hurt, the two of them can cover.' Simon said.

'Makes sense. I'd like Davy with us for muscle, but keepin a pilot on board is right sensible.'

'On board and ready to run.'

'And ready to run.'

Derry's research had found some information on ark specs,but none on a ship named Rio de Janiero. It was  
very different from the one displayed in orbit around Bellepheron. Larger, a huge rectangle, flat sided with no windows. There were many entries marked, a few damaged beyond hope of use, but most in workable condition.

'Jayne, you and I will take the shuttle over first. We'll see if those airlocks are mates for ours. If they are, we'll look for the cargo bay entry. Then back here for a pow wow.'

From the shuttle window, the walls of the ark were infinite. The men reckoned the size as about four km by two by one point five. But bare metal, many of the original ceramic tiles pocked away by meteorite hits, was all that could be seen from the shuttle bridge.

The shuttle started at one end and cruised slowly along then across the back of the craft and disappeared from Serenity's view.

'There's damage here,' Mal reported. 'A fuckin huge hole, bigger than Serenity.'

'So no atmo?' asked Zoe.

'Could have sealed itself or it might not have taken out… shit.'

'Sir?'

'What dya think, Jayne? Are those cryopods?'

'Kinda banged up. Mebbee.'

'Sir?'

'Sorry, Zo. They seem to have been hit by a fair chunk of rock. Smashed into the cyro storage. Can't tell if it was passengers or livestock yet. The entrances we can see to the rest of the ship seem to be sealed, but we don't see any airlocks. The cryoboxes have been in vacuum for a long time.'

'From what we're seein', if any of this stuff is viable, we got the mother of all livestock here. This is real cashy money.'

'More 'n that , Mal, 'said David. 'This is new genetic material. They're not just chickens and sheep. There's the addition of genetic diversity- especially from an underrepresented continent.'

'Good thinkin', Davy! We'll pull out a few samples. Doc, you can test for viability?'

'Yes, that's simple enough. Choose a domestic chicken though. If they're lost, the Verse won't be too much worse off, even if testing destroys a few viable embryos.'

Jayne had already donned his spacesuit and Mal checked the fastenings.

'The label you're looking for is 'pollos'. That's chickens, but watch for any sign of cryoboxes for people.'

It took about an hour for Jayne to return with three cryoboxes chosen from different parts of the smashed cargo hold.

Mal was irritable and antsy when he returned.

'I figgered that some of the boxes might be damaged and some not and if they were stored in diff'rent places, mebbee they come from diff'rent places and were…diff'rent.'

'Huh. Good thinkin', Jayne.' Mal's glance was puzzled and yet respectful. Jayne was not as dumb as he tried to appear.

After two more hours spent girdling the ark, Mal and Jayne had made captures of the damage and of probable entries. Enough had changed over the centuries that some of the airlock designs were obsolete. A military vessel might be able to use them but Fireflies had only basic airlocks.

When they returned the whole crew, including Derry and Hope, discussed the situation.

'It comes down to salvage or rescue,' said Mal.'If there's anyone alive, passengers or crew, the ship is theirs.'

'So then…?'

'Call the nearest Alliance base and report the ark. Keepin in mind we may not be the first to have found them.'

'And salvage?' asked Emma.

'That's complicated, sweetie. We have to register as salvage agents, and buy a license, and pay tax on whatever we take.' said Zoe.

'Them licenses is a pretty penny,' said Mal.

'Not a penny- heavy platinum, I'd say, sir,' said Zoe.

What's a 'cetacean','asked Jayne who had been showing their captures to Derry.

'Dunno, what does the encyclopaedia say, Derry?'

Derry spent a few moments finding the word.

'Whale - the largest mammals that ever lived on Earth That Was. Almost extinct before abandonment, no whales were brought with our ancestors, because the huge animals had no commercial value. Whooah!'

'What's so shockin', Der? Lotsa animals were left behind.'

'Look at the size of this whale?'

Derry showed an illustration of a Blue Whale proportional to a human and to an Apatosaurus. All the adults gaped.

'Y'all might think me a touch moonbrained,' said Mal, 'but if we find some of those in the hold, I'm bringin' it on board.'

'Captain, it's bigger than Serenity,' scolded Emma.

'They're embryos, dear,' her mother reminded her. 'No bigger than those chickens right now.'

'And it would be best to see if our chickens are viable, before we start hatching and Derry, would  
you like to help me test them?' said Simon.

Beege followed the older children to the infirmary. Mummy had murmured something about compression coils to Daddy and they had slipped off to their bunk. Beege knew not to follow them because the hatch would be locked.

Jayne brought the cryoboxes and she watched with interest as the first was opened with a hiss of cold, making snow as it hit the warm moist air of the ship. Doctor Simon had Derry and Hope dress in clean robes and gloves, but just lifted her onto stool to watch. She couldn't hear much of what he told the others and didn't understand what she could hear. After a few minutes, she left the infirmary.

In the common room she found a bookpad with some stories she could read and curled up for a while. The feeling restless, she walked, carrying the bookpad and reading aloud to herself. Her teacher on Persephone had told her that it was good practice for her diction, but Beege preferred to practice alone. She didn't like being encouraged by the crew. That was the wrong kind of special.

She entered the bridge and clambered onto Auntie River's lap. The two sat cuddled without speaking aloud until Beege felt River relax. The Ark troubled the sensitive pilot, her mind darting about searching for … life? intelligence? frozen dreams?

'There ought to be clowns…" sang Auntie River, from her obsessive repertoire.

In the cargo bay, Jayne and David had spread the mats the children used for gymnastics out and were playfighting.

David's glossy black pigtail fell down his bare back while Jayne wore a torn tee advertising a music festival on Shihnon some dozen years ago. Captain Daddy said Jayne had only one nice outfit- black pants and matching whoring shirt. Uncle Perse had given him an Alleyne Reynolds Transport tee which he wore when he went with the captain and Aunt Zoe on business calls, but most of his clothes were raggedy.

David had Jayne flat on his back with the larger man's arms pinned over his head. He straddled Jayne and said, 'Cave?' Jayne just grunted.

Beege giggled, knowing that Uncle Jayne hated to surrender on anything.

The men heard her and beckoned her over. 'Bring that towel will ya, BabyGirl?' asked Jayne. He pulled off his sweaty tee and B.G. rubbed down his back before he took the towel and dried his own chest.

'Uncle Jayne, you as… you are as fuzzzzy as my teddy,' she giggled.

'M not a teddy bear.' he frowned.

'I thaid like my teddy,' Sigh. ' Sssaid.'

Davy smiled at her. He was not sweaty but his skin glowed coppery red.

'What game was that? Were you all grappling?' she asked.

Jayne choked, 'No!' but Davy just smiled more.'No, no, Beege. It's what's called wrestling, it's a very old sport, Thousands of years old.'

Jayne had recovered, 'But not as old as grapplin.'

'Mummy and Daddy play that game, too, all the time. I think Daddy usually wins, but Mummy won this morning.'

David turned redder. 'Um, Beege. That's a private game. Um. Nobody needs to know that.'

Zoe, passing on the catwalk from her bunk to the galley said, 'She's five. Never tell a five year old a secret.'

'Might be time for a little girl to get her own space, though.' said David.

Jayne had been thoughtful. 'I'll be in my bunk.' he said and left.

Simon and his lab assistants were able to start some of the chicken embryos growing, which meant that hard vacuum in the Black had not destroyed them. It would take about 21 days for the chicks to hatch, but other work could continue.

Zoe was able to confirm that they had enough food on board to stay near Rio for three weeks and take another week to find a suitable world for restocking the pantry.

'We won't need that long though, Daddy,' Derry pointed out. 'We can head back to civilization before our chickens hatch.'

'We're gonna have to put you in charge of logistics, zhangzi. You're a dab hand fer detail.' his father said.

'We'll spend five days checkin over the ship and seein if she really is available for salvage. If she is, we'll get a decent cargo together and look for buyers.'

Kaylee interrupted. 'Does that mean we'll be getting that license Zoe talked about, cause we prolly have enough with Daddy to cover it.'

'Don't think that will be necessary, darlin. Specially if we stick to the domesticated beasts.'

'Will we get a whale, Daddy?'

'What would a little girl like you with a massive great thing like that?'

'Rride it. Jayne will make me a hawneth. Harrnessss.'


	2. Chapter 2

Five days of exploration did not turn up any cryoboxes with human cargo.

'That doesn't mean much,' Simon told David, as they prepared for bed, 'This ship is almost a world and we haven't found anything like a map that might help us find where the refugees were stored.'

'What if we do? What will the Captain do then?'

'Hard to say. He has a sense of honour and I think probably he might turn them over to the Feds, especially if there is a reward for rescuing lost refugees. But the cargo is very tempting. Even just selling on the hard to trace animals and plants, without any bonus for the new genes we'd be introducing, would be very profitable.'

'It would be hard to stake a claim to such a big vessel.'

'Harder to keep pirates and such off it. We'd have to sell any salvage rights to some big group that could afford to put an engine on her and move her closer to a world where she could be disassembled cargo, ship, and all.

'I hadn't thought of the actual ship. I guess the metals would be very valuable.'

'And don't forget the living quarters would be a treasure trove for antique collectors. There would be some petroleum plastics, just everyday items for our ancestors, bottles and hairbrushes and plates and some fabrics, that would be as valuable as the Lassiter that Mal fenced about a decade ago.'

'Lassiter?

'Yes. The first workable hand held laser rifle. It was a pig to find a buyer, but when we did move it, it kept us going for a couple of years.'

After some discussion with Zoe and Kaylee, Mal decided to end the search for life. River had suited up and toured the damaged cryovault but detected nothing indicating human life there. They had made a few short forays into other parts of the ship, but while there was air, the life support system was powered down to occasional lights, still operating on stored energy from the engine waste.

The crew filled the cargo hold with cryoboxes of chickens and other poultry, on the basis that those would be easiest to sell on with little explanation of origin. David was disappointed that they would not be promoting the genetic diversity aspect.

'We could make a fortune with new genetic material, true enough. But we would also have to show where we got the material and that we got the salvage permit we can't afford to buy. Better to mine the Ark for cargo and sell it where we can, to them as don't care too much about origin.'

'If we do well on the sellin, we could mebbee buy a salvage permit, capt'n?' asked Kaylee.

'I wanna find some antiques first. A permit for a prize this big is gonna cost.'

'What about Sir Warwick Harrow, sir?' said Zoe. 'He might be interested in an investment opportunity.'

'He's got money, truth. But is he open to a harvestin job like this? To do the job right would require a lot of manpower. Come down to it, he's a rancher. His fortune is in land and livestock.'

'Which ties in with the cargo on Rio.' said Zoe.

'You know him best, of course,' said Simon, 'But why not offer him the chickens first and work up to the investment  
opportunity?'

'Good thinkin, doc. Riv, would you look up his cortex address? We want a direct line and we don't need to be traceable until we're well away from this sector. We've got a decent cargo if we can't make it back here, but no point broadcastin where we found what we found, dong ma?'

Harrow was interested in the poultry embryos and not too interested in learning how the crew had come across such a high tech commodity. Instead of his city estate on Persephone, he directed them to his country property, a large ranch, just as Mal had predicted.

But when he saw the cryoboxes he was concerned. 'These are a very old design and I don't recognize the language on the labels. What do you want to tell me about?'

'As little as possible unless you are interested in a big investment. We can supply a lot of similar material if you want it. You have properties on other worlds?'

'Several worlds. I like to diversify my holdings between climates. My grandfather got caught with a world-wide drought on Higgins Moon about 200 years ago and the family learned from that. Took us nearly 75 years to build back up. '

Mal took a moment to remember the long healthy lives of Core dwellers, especially the rich. Harrow looked to be about fifty, but could be over 90 thanks to modern medicine and genetic choices made by his parents and grandparents.

'We got chickens and other poultry this trip. We could do that again, or we could go for larger animals. Cows or sheep. There could be some real exotics too. Ever heard of a pack animal called a llama?'

Harrow decided he wanted the poultry embryos and gave instructions to drop them, off at this property on… Zoe was nervous, because the moon was more Core than Border, and was more silent and stoical than ever as a result.

The chicken ranch turned out to be an immense battery farm run by incurious clerks. They assured David that the hatchlings would be kept quarantined for a few generations before becoming part of the general population.

'This is the best solution after all,' he told the crew,,' The new genes should strengthen the flocks, but with such a large population, the changes can be waved off as normal mutations.

Harrow wanted to wait out the quarantine period to se what he would actually be getting, but passed on the name of a colleague who was looking for beef cattle.

"Brasil and Argentina were big time exporters of beef, 'reported Derry, still engrossed in his study of the lost bio-diversity of South America. 'They were cutting down the forest to make more pasture for the herds.'

'Wouldn't the forests be more valuable than the cattle?' asked Emma.

'The forest had always been there. It didn't' need to be planted. And most places, if farmers stopped planting, the forest grew back,' explained David.' The poor farmers would clear a section by burning and after a few seasons, the land was worn out and they moved on and did it again. And the forest would grow back within a year or so. Some called the Amazon Forest the lungs of Earth-That –Was.'

Harrow's friend paid well for the bovine embryos. And recommended them, even before the embryos were proven, to another rancher looking for sheep. Derry recommended adding some alpacas to his herds for their wool.

"We won't make much on these, Capt'n, he said' No one knows how to raise'em, and there could be questions about their provenance.' The low price was less important to Mal than his boy's returning confidence. Derry was working closely with Davy, whose farm background combined with training in biology as part of his nursing education, had turned out to be surprisingly useful in harvesting the most saleable cargo from the Ark.

They had an order for horses from Harrow's friend but as they approached the Ark, ready to find the cryoboxes, River called from the bridge.

'Captain, there's another ship here."

'How w'rin bu lai, whai w'rin bu jwo! Feds? " Mal hurried into the cockpit. River was trembling, but her hands on the controls were steady.

"There they go. I think they saw us and ran.'

"We can cope with another salvor, long as they ain't lookin to fight.'

'They're bad people, captain. Soul stealers.'

Why didn't' we see'm on approach/"

'Dark side of the moon.'

'On the other side. You better watch yourself , Tross, you ain't been incomprehensible for weeks now. We'll be thinkin yer all together again.'

'Riding a yellow submarine.'

'And there's our albatross back again. Welcome home. What's on the other side.?"

Rover pulled away from their usual docking point near the animal hold and for only the second time Mal saw the other side of the Ark. Since that first inspection there were some changes. Most important a large cargo door stood open to the vacuum of space.

'Sloppy,' said Mal, 'Zoe, Jayne, suit up, we're goin exploring. Bring some armament in case there's excitement.'

The airlock behind the open cargo door was not password protected. But unlike the rest of the ship, the cargo bay and the corridors leading off it were powered up and brightly lit.

'Stay suited. They left in a hurry and could return just as fast. Or they may have left crew behind. Open the airlock and vent the gas, we're dead.'

They proceeded with caution. This part of the Ark was designed for a living active crew. A corridor they chose at random turned into the first floor of a building and they left through a normal revolving door into a village. All on one level, the crew explored an area about a kilometre square and 300 metres high. The architects had installed a village including shops, multistory buildings, a park, now with only the remains of tall single trunk trees, freezedried after centuries of the cold dark, and what was obviously a school.

'These generation ships—they didn't keep everyone active. There weren't many actual generations or wakeful folks. The base crew were awake and brought up their families. Most of the people were in cryoboxes like our cargoes.' said Zoe.

'How d'ya know that.?' asked Jayne.

'My great grandparents were Ark crew. Or family's main ship was a cutter from that Ark that great grandma modified for transport. She was some fast. The crew was supposed to be paid in land but Grandpa Alleyne was from sailor stock. Alleynes have been in transport and importation for centuries, back to Cornwall on Earth-That-Was.'

'Zoe got me inta the idea of runnin transport when we was discharged.,' added Mal. 'Hey! Street signs!'

The signboards gave a map of the level the crew were on, including a path to the engine section. Paydirt.

'Too bad Kaylee ain't with us, she'd be all excited at playin with a new engine,' said Jayne.

Mal grinned. He hoped there was air in the ark's engine room. Kaylee got very imaginative around engines. And flexible.

Zoe set her tracker to broadcast their whereabouts to the ship, and they set off at a trot for the engine room.  
They entered the engine area carefully, watching and listening for any sign of life. Nothing moved as they entered.

The engines looked like nothing they had seen before.

'We'll need Kaylee to figger this out, but it don't look like we can harvest any fuel cells here."

'What did they run the ship on then?' Jayne asked.

'Nuthin as simple as fuel cells. No shldin for one thing. An these big tanks.. what do them words say?'

'Gás natural liquefeito . PERIGO . Sem chamas', read Zoe.

'Must be Portugalian. I'll get Derry to look it up when we get home.'

'There are some universal danger logos though,' said Zoe.'I think I know what this is. Liquified natural gas. Methane.'

Mal brightened. "Jayne, see if those tanks have fastenings we could undo.'

'How would ya transport them, Mal? They's almost as big as Serenity.'

'Pull'em behind us. The methane won't ignite if it's liquid. And there are Rim cities that could be powered for years by a tank this size.'

'Could you power an Ark with methane? And where would you get that much of the stuff? This ship's been in the Black for nigh on 500 years.'

'If the crew is limited, once you're underway, you don't need much to keep goin. And this ship was slow to arrive. Slow enough to be forgotten. Keep the crew small, mebbee two or three hundred actives, mebbee less, and you don't need much power for light and heat.'

'Here's a different tank, 'reported Jayne, 'Oxigénio."

'Oxygen. We've found real treasure. Sell that tank to a shipyard for real cashy money.'

Back on Serenity, the crew discussed their next steps.

Zoe preferred to stay with their current plan of harvesting cryopods of embryos. 'They sell easy and we already have customers. More important, they hardly ever explode.'

Simon agreed, as did his husband. 'The livestock is badly needed on almost every Rim world and easy to sell on Border worlds. There is a social benefit to dealing in livestock."

Jayne was interested in the most lucrative cargo. 'We grab the methane and sell it to a shipyard. Boom, done.'

'But we have to get the tanks out of the ship first. They were put in place early in the build. Might be tricky. And of course, they're right volatile fuel, ' Kaylee said. 'So, yeah. Boom.'

'Same with the oxygen. The builders would want to keep that on board. No reason ever to take it off.'

Well, we don't have the equipment, the time or the customer for either methane fuel or oxygen, so lets leave it for now and do some research after we find and deliver this cargo. It ain't goin anywhere.

'Unless, the ship that scarpered figgers the same as us.'

'Not salvors.' said River.'Slavers.'

'Lookin to harvest the cryopods of the fugues? Gose. Nasty shock to wake up centuries from home and find yer bought  
and sold like livestock. '

'And dangerous zuìfàn. Don't give a good gorram bout human life less'n they can sell it. Frozen bodies would be a perfect cargo, no need to feed 'em and no need to control 'em until they are paid for. '

'We have to do something,Mal. We haven't found the refugees yet, but that open cargo door indicates that the slavers have.' said Simon.' Perhaps it's time to notify the Feds about the Ark. We don't have to tell them when exactly we found it or how often we've visited.'

'There's damn good money, real coin, solid platinum sittin waitin for us to take it. An' we don't actually know that the slavers have found the refugees.'

'Or even that they are slavers.'

'I'll trust Tross on that. But why don't things ever go smooth?' Mal leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes. Kaylee stroked his hand.

'We have to do right by the fugees, Captain, " she said softly.

The next morning, Mal had made up his mind. 'We'll take our cargo and as much more on spec as we can. Deliver it then move on to Boros. We'll pass news to the Feds there. Don't have to mention the slavers, since we didn't stop for long and didn't investigate much, except to see that the Ark had been visited. That should cover our ass if they don't look too close. So let's suit up and harvest as much as we can.'

A heavy day of work followed, with River the only crew not pulling out frozen embryos, but keeping a close watch for other ships.

At supper, an easy meal of tinned beans on toast, apples and tea, Mal thanked everyone for their hard work. Most of the crew were glad of a shower after a day spent in the odourous confines of a space suit and one by one went off to bed. Only Zoe did not retire early, but took over the bridge for River.


	3. Chapter 3

Kaylee and Mal showered together, pleased that their hard day had been successful and probably would make them a lot of money. (where are the kids?)

'I never saw those engines,' remarked Kaylee 'and now we're leaving and not coming back.

We could make a short trip over there, I you like darlin.'

'Is there air in the engine room, Malcolm?'

'I like where this is goin, Kaywinnet. 'Mal kissed his wet naked wife. 'We could just stay here. We're the last in the shower room.'

'I'd really like to see those LNG engines, captain. I'll make it worth your while. There's no gravity over there, is there?'

'Don't tease a horny man, Kaywinnet. Why don't we go check those out? We could make a quick trip over when the kids are sleeping. And you could inspect them on the spot,' her husband suggested.

' I don't tease… at least not for long. Let's do it.'

'Shuttle over, Malcolm, take a few capchures of what's there for customers?'

'That would be the plan, Kaywinnet.'

'Sure. Let's. '

Mal notified Zoe that he and Kaylee were going back over to the Ark.

' I can come along case you find something worth bringing back,' offered Jayne.

Kaylee glanced at the captain.

'No. This'll just be recon. No need for extra hands.'

After dinner, they took a pair of spacesuits up to the shuttle and lifted off, slipping over the bulk of the Ark, out of sight of Serenity.

Mal piloted the shuttle to the open cargo door that led to the village and then to the engine room. Without speaking, they stripped down to minimal undergarments, before suiting up.

They helped each other into their suits, Kaylee remarking on the stink of them after a full day.

'At least Jayne drained the bio units.'

'How come he's on honeywagon duty this week? What awful thing did I miss? '

Mal was busy caressing Kaylee's breasts as he fitted the suit. They had decided there was no point in getting dressed before going over.

'Not like we'll be meeting any strangers. '

He bent down to kiss her before fastening on her helmet and checking the seals. Her pink tongue traced the outline of his lips and she held his eyes before smiling and stepping back. His eyes asked a question and hers a promise.

"What we do for privacy, Kaywinnet.'

She laughed and returned his kiss with heat.

Kaylee was fascinated by the village, especially the freeze-dried park. This area was still cold, but the still running engines kept their destination warm, with some of the heat being pumped into the village.

Mal led the way to the engine room while Kayleee, who had stayed home while the crew found their cargo and explored the Ark, looked around in amazement.

'I've read about how we left Earth-That-Was and even seen some vids about it. A lotta my stories use the Leaving as a start. But I couldn't imagine…. This is a whole city inside a ship!"

'Not really a city. A town, mebbee only a village. Davy reckons there were five hundred crew awake at any time, tops. Probably less, most of the time. Only reason to have more was to make sure there was a next generation of crew, without people fuckin their sisters.'

'Geez you can be nasty sometimes, capt'n.'

'Lemme show you them engines you're so taken with an we'll see who can get nasty.'

They had removed their helmets once clear of the airlock, but still wore their suits. They had left all other clothing behind, knowing without discussion that an opportunity to be the only ones on a world would not easily come again.

As they left Serenity, River had chirped, "Have good sex!"

Sometimes it was very necessary to be alone. Even if there still was no privacy.

Engineering took up an area nearly 500 metres square and 20 metres high, and Kaylee lit up with glee. Engineering was both sealed and fully atmospheric. The engines needed oxygen to run and enough had leaked into the section that they were a little giddy with it.

Finding her suit slowed her down too much, she opened the seals and catches and stripped down. Mal watched with amusement and delight as his naked mechanic bounced around in zero gravity, cooing over engines and machines inexplicable to him, that she recognized at a glance. Her happy enthusiasm ignored his presence, as she stroked the humming machines and read labels and nameplates. It did not even seem to slow her down that most of the labels were in ancient lost Portugese.

He was entranced by his view of her rump, round and bouncy as she squeezed into a space behind some incomprehensible tank of something dangerous. He considered that she had one of the finest asses he had ever seen, which considering his experience included Zoe Alleyne Washburne and Inara Serra, definitely put her in the top three percent of buttocks. He reached out his big hand and stroked the smooth skin, cupping each warm globe in turn.

She swatted his hand away, 'Gimmee a minute, capt'n. I wanna check this gauge…' her words became indecipherable as she wriggled deeper into the machinery.

Her legs now. Slim but still curvy. Those curves were muscle, he knew. She could wrap herself around him and brace while he thrust up into her willing cunt. She could even from that position use those strong muscles to push herself along his hard cock.

She was sliding back now, and out with a triumphant wiggle. He stepped forward and embraced her, grasping her breasts and pushing his erection into the cleft of that rump.

'Rump.' he murmured.

'Whaah?' she replied, concentrating on the mechanism in her grasp. He moved one hand down her front and touched her clit. Just a flick, but she hissed with pleasure. He slipped a finger into her, already wet.

She always said engines made her hot.

Mal felt his cock rise in appreciation of that rump. He decided not to resist and cupping a buttock in each hand, he bent over and kissed them then gave into the temptation and bit the tender rounded flesh.

Kaylee yelled in surprise, jerking away and bumping her head on machinery. She pulled out of the space she had been investigating and glared like watching an offended kitten. Mal pulled her up and kissed the bump, pressing his erection into her soft belly.

She giggled. A bite or bump was just spice in the mix. Before Mal could kiss her she slid down his body and took his cock into her mouth.

He was a little too large for her to take fully, but her tongue had him gasping in seconds and when she sucked hard, he had to stop her if their private excursion were not to come to a sudden conclusion.

The floor was soft with some sort of smooth foam, easy to clean but comfortable underfoot. Mal lay her down and slipped his tongue into her cleft. Although his cock was near her face, she did not try to suck him again, but stroked him slowly, and as her orgasm approached, more than a little erratically.

With a cry, she collapsed boneless, Mal grinned in satisfaction, watching the flush rise and fall on her chest, her nipples hard and rigid, her breathless gasps. He turned and pushed into her cunt easily. Her walls were still spasming with the orgasm and it felt good. Very good. He settled into a steady tempo that kept her at orgasm at first gasping then moaning and finally as he came hot and hard, screaming at the intensity.

They lay wrapped around each other, holding tight, each trying to melt into the other.

'Nice show,' said a strange voice.


	4. Chapter 4

'Nice show.' Said a strange voice.

They spun apart. Mal was on his feet in an instant, trying to stare down the heavyset stranger who held an energy gun on them. Kaylee cringed away, horrified, sliding towards the safety of the storage tanks.

The stranger was as tall and broad as Mal, and was accompanied by another, equally large. Both were armed and were obviously aroused by what they had observed.

Kaylee watched the three men. Mal was naked and had not been concerned about bringing armament to a deserted ship. For the moment she was not being watched, but she was sure that she would soon be the object of their interest. Making herself as small as possible, she slid a hand out to the nearest suit, sprawled on the floor where it has been discarded in heat. She touched the rigid frame and found the left shoulder, pressing the emergency button there. Short short short long long long short short short. She slipped her hand back to her side.

'Looks like we're not the only ones to have found this little treasure, " Mal was saying, with an easy grin. 'You interested in the fuel ? Cause it's way too much for us to handle.'

The men were still silent.

'We ain't had a chance to look around much. I was thinking there might be some good antiques in the village back there. Small stuff, easy to sell for cashy money. All kinds of val'able plastic stuff. Even the china and glass would find a fast market.

"So would a couple of healthy workers.' said the big man. His companion laughed. 'Big demand for miners, farmhands.'

'Whores.' Added the companion, leering.

Kaylee, knowing she was back in observation, moved to a less constricted position.

'Don't need a job.' Said Mal. 'Got work.'

'Us too, ' the companion said,' An there's lots of stock for labour suppliers here too.'

Mal's grin never faded. 'There are corpsicles? You're making the frozen fugees into slaves?"

"Bond labourers, please, ' the leader said. 'Best thing for them, once they get used to the idea. They get food and board while they learn about a brand new Verse. Practically a favour to them.'

"Yer selling people.'

'I sell labour contracts. Good business too. The customers pay me to find them workers and the workers pay me for my costs of rescue and transport to the place of work.'

'Slavers.'

'All legal and above board, Mal.'

Kaylee saw the tiny twitch when the slaver said Mal's name. She knew Mal was running his face through his long list of 'people I have pissed off.'

'Name's Harbatken.'

"Yer name is Mal Reynolds and you robbed me of my whole stake back on Kerry in 2518. My name is Wright. Took me a year to earn enough to get off that dirtball.'

'Don't recall the occasion. May be some other fella looks like me. Must be lots of ruggedly handsome, well set up spacers in the Verse.'

'Got a different whore with you this time. That one was a brunette, real high class, not a scrubber like this one.'

The twitch again. Kaylee got ready to run when the violence started.

The buddy laughed.

'Still not ringin any bells, Mr. Wright. Pert sure you got the wrong fella.'

'If you ain't him, yer close enough for me to want to take out my upset and hurt feelins on. And you ain't got much goin in yer favour, do you?"

'I do seem to be at a disadvantage. Mind if I put my pants on? Yer buddy there keeps starin at my famly jewels. Gets embarrassin after a bit.'

The buddy made a squeak of denial. Wright glanced back at him, taking his eyes off Mal who launched himself grabbing for the gun.

Buddy swung his weapon up but with his leader in the way, had no clear target.

Then Kaylee's skull hit him full on the groin. He collapsed, writhing and she managed to get hold of his gun and aim it in the direction of the fighting men.

'Stop that right now, ' she commanded, in her 'mama ain't happy' voice. A childhood memory kicked in and for only a second Wright stopped struggling, allowing Mal to wrest his weapon away.

The slavers froze, while Mal and Kaylee, discussed with glances and few words how to handle this unexpected problem.

'Zoe?'

'Comin'

'Rope?'

Kaylee handed Mal Buddy's weapon, and trotted to a well equipped work bench. She found some thin wire and a pair of wire cutters.

Dragging Buddy's hands from his screaming crotch, she wired his hands behind his back and to one ankle. She pulled the gasping man around and with a new wire attached that ankle to Wright's opposite ankle so that the men faced in different directions. then she wired Wright's hands behind him.

'Still got wire left, capt'n.'

'That'll do, mei mei.'

'Think I should solder the wires together, capt'n?'

'Let's just tie 'em to somethin solid. We'll deal with em when the others arrive. I wanna find the fugees.'

'The corpsicles would be on their ship. I could disable it pert easy.'

'Trickier if they grabbed any live crew.'

'What'll we do with these two now?"

'We could discuss it with the crew, but I'm none too taken with the idea of lettin them tell the Feds about some pirates interruptin their legitimate business.'

Kaylee sighed, then picked up the spacesuit. 'Zoe?' she called.

'On our way.'

'Could you grab some clothes before you leave, please?' she asked. 'And could you bring Simon or David rather than Jayne?'

'Who's bleedin?'

'No one. But I've managed so far to avoid Jayne seein me nekkid. Simon already has and David don't care.'

'Good plan.'

Kaylee's husband considered her words. "Zoe, you come with Simon and a couple of jumpsuits for Kaylee and me."

"Not David?" Kaylee asked when Mal signed off.

" She's seen me in my skin before. And Simon. I would like to maintain as much modesty as possible in this sitchation."

Donning their suits, Mal and Kaylee headed the way the slavers had entered. Mal used the suit comms to let Zoe know that they were heading off to investigate the slavers' ship. They trotted down a long corridor with sealed doors each marked 'Garantir câmara de estase Sem entrada'

'Derry, could you find out what these words mean?' Mal asked his comm.

'He better not answer that, he's supposed to be in bed.'

'Right, mamma bear. Hey, that was good work back there. You got me scared, even.'

'T'weren't nuthin. I just didn't want them anywheres near Serenity and my babies.'

"Mamma bear.' Fondly. Proudly.

River's voice came over the comm. 'The signs say 'Secure Stasis Chamber. No Entry."

'Guess that's the corpsicles, then. We're on lookout for one that's been opened.'

'There.' Mal carefully checked the opened door. The seals had been broken roughly, probably with a little sticky explosive. The chamber, larger than the Village, was filled with cryopods, not very different from that in which River had been smuggled off Persephone and into their ship, years before.

Each pod had a nametag, a number and an odd speckled square. In addition, there was a capture of the person held in frozen stasis in the 'pod.

'Five centuries,' marvelled Kaylee. 'An then a new life. Well, at least it won't be slavery.'

'What do we do, capt'n?'

'We can't let those slavers loose. They know too much about our operation. We can't let any of the fugees loose either. They prolly don't know how to run the ship, and we don't know the extent of the damage. Safer for them here, even if other ships find them.'

'Shénme dōu méi biàn guānghuá.'

'Thinkin we should paint that on the ship as our business slogan, darlin.'

Zoe and Simon arrived quickly, not having to worry about being spotted, nor about wearing spacesuits. Zoe held a taser on the slavers while Mal and Kaylee scrambled into coveralls and Simon checked the captives for serious injury.

'What are we supposed to do with these prisoners, sir?' Zoe asked .

' We could just leave 'em for the Feds, Could be months before the Feds get here, course.' Jayne suggested over the comm.

'This is a real dà xiàng de gāowán sitchashun. Can't let em go. Can't let em tell anyone their story. ' Kaylee said.

'Can't say I disagree,' said Mal.' If we let them go on their merry, they could turn us in to the Feds lickety split, an I reckon their slavin ways is a mite more legal than our own business here.'

River was singing in the background. " Our object all sublime, we shall achieve in time, to make the punishment fit the crime; the punishment fit the crime.'

"We could space 'em." suggested Jayne.

"We can't kill them in cold blood, Captain," Simon said. 'For what it's worth, outside of some minor bruising, they are in rude good health.'

"Too much gravity anyway. They'd orbit Rio forever. An if we are connected with the ark , like by notifyin that it's here, the Feds find the bodies.'

'Laundry day, see you there," chirruped River.

"We could leave em tied up in their own boat… nope, they might be found too soon."

"Yeah, now that two crews have found Rio, chances of another are pert high."

'An we can't let them tell their story. Dà xiàng de gāowán '

'With my freezeray, I can stop the world.' River sang in the background.

Simon said, 'I think River has found the solution.'

'Then we better get it in Captain Dummy talk, cause I ain't any less confused.'

'The crew were active in shifts, then went back into cryogenic sleep. There must be a cyronics machine somewhere.'

Kaylee squealed. "That's it. We freeze em and file em. Mark em with some low status so's they ain't defrosted any too soon.'

"Good thinking Doc, Riv. Would we need someone over here to do the freezing?"

"It should be automatic, since the crew would be doing each other, but I have operated the machinery once, which is once more than anyone else on crew. '

"An' I can help.' said Kaylee, who always looked for chances to play with new machines.

They filed the slavers, naked and identified as illiterate fishermen.

The slavers had not yet stocked any cryopods for this broke into their ship and stripped it of useful fuel cells and spare parts, as well as identification, then set the ship a course for Kalidasa that would end by crashing into the Rim sun.

On of the useful finds on the slaveship was a net with mesh fine enough to hold cryopods. Kaylee and Jayne decided it could be jerryrigged to pull as many pods as could be held in Serenity's hold. River was confident that she could safely pilot the ship and the net to a friendly world, although they would not be able to enter atmo with the net dragging.

'We'll head for Lilac, Harrow's chicken ranch.' said Mal. 'Get hold of Warwick from there and get advice. '

'That should work. It's quiet enough there that orbiting the world won't be noticed much.' added Simon.

'Allus said you had the making of a good criminal mind, there, doc," grinned Mal.

Warwick Harrow was annoyed by the new development. "So that's the end of our new product line?"

'Fraid so, Warwick,' said Mal. "Now, if we could get a proper salvage license, we could go in search of lost ships, maybe around Sturgis. We might even be able to keep an eye open for lost Arks."

'I don't have that kind of influence, Mal. Those licenses are expensive, and if I say they are expensive, you know you could never afford one. You couldn't even afford the interest on the load to buy one, if you could get the loan, which you couldn't.

"Those licenses are held tight by Blue Sun subsidiaries. Any finds are going to be Blue Sun property, and there is no chance they will let any fly by night outfit like yours ."

"Well, we had a good run, an we made some good money. Warwick, thank you for your help.'

"I made money too, Mal. And there are people now beholden to me for the product you were able to supply. So, we're even.'

"Got one more request though, Warwick. Need some advice on where I can grow a couple of embryos to birthin' size. Then I need a world that would be able to support a colony of blue whales."


End file.
